The Real Vampire in Shadow of a Vampire Essay

In the title, Shadow of a Vampire, you already see foreshadow for what the movie will be about; vampires and shadows come to mind and the movie do focus on those aspects, but what comes to mind for me, is a new kind of monster, a monster described as just a “shadow of a Vampire”. In this movie, you are not only introduced to a Vampire, whom later on you have feelings similar to pity for him, you are also introduced to this man, just a human man, who wants to make a film all about Nosferatu. But with this man, you do not sympathize or have any feelings for him. In the original works of Dracula and Nosferatu, it was always the vampire who was the villain, but in this movie, it was actually the director that had more monster-like qualities. We even see a whole scene of him in a cabaret club in the very beginning to wisp away any open-mindness we have for all characters. It also sets the mood, which is that for an environment which can shadow any “vampire” and also for the time period of the movie. The theme of drugs is displayed also, with the cat in the beginning, and the lady in the end, both alike in the way that drugs were used to make both docile by the same person, the director, Murnau. The man is seen as the real monster, although not in the very beginning, but you can start to see some foreshadowing hints already, because he does not see people as people, and only as tools to get what he wants and that is just as bad as a vampire who sees people as food, and ways of getting blood to survive off of, except Murnau does not need, technically, “film” to survive, but it is what he wants. He needs people for their skill, and for no other attachment. When a person walks in on his shot for an emergency, he yells how a “native” just walked in. Like he is a vampire calling her a human. When Nosferatu attacks his screen writer, the director does not care that the man is dying; only that he has to find another one. He even bargains the life of the girl, Greta, to...

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Both Stoker’s Dracula and Mernau’s Nosferatu have been used to create a new text, with its own concerns, the new text being shadow of the vampire, and its concerns being that it needs to appeal to a postmodern audience. Shadow of the vampire is a new text representing new elements that resonate with a contemporary, post modern audience. Various elements of the gothic mode for example vampirism, immortality, sexuality, and the shadow motif have been appropriated, also Intertextuality is created through the use of real Nosferatu footage, and re-enactments of Nosferatu in order to appeal to a postmodern audience.
The two texts Dracula and Nosferatu have been used to create the film shadow of the vampire. Shadow of the vampire is not a straight transformation of Dracula and Nosferatu, it is a new text representing new elements that resonate with a contemporary postmodern audience. This postmodern film has used elements from the two historical texts, in a playful and ironic fashion to appeal to a postmodern audience. One of the main aspects of the film that appeals to a postmodern audience is the idea of the emphasis on the process, which is all about making a film about the making of a film. Ironically the post modernists have used a film about the making of a film to...

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...﻿How does Shadow of the Vampire appropriate the earlier texts of Nosferatu and Dracula and make or create something new?
Blood sucking, darkness, gothic and death; all relate to this mysterious creature, the vampire. A film within a film is Shadow of the Vampire and it moulds together the texts Dracula and Nosferatu using post-modernist techniques. This creates for the audience a film that entertainingly doesn’t follow universal themes but focuses on gothic features, character transformations and the plot.
Shadow of the Vampire is a docu-drama, as the film is based upon the filming of Nosferatu, this technique of intertexuality uses Nosferatu as a framework. However, Elias Mehrige the director uses the technique pastiche as well; which is the combination of two genres, they are gothic and docu-drama. Dracula and Nosferatu are where the gothic genre is obtained from; this then creates for the viewer an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. It has the gothic setting and landscape, for example the castle in all three texts are alike and described the same. Blood is a motif in each text as it symbolizes life and death; another motif used is the realm of darkness, this establishes for the viewer evil and unsolved mysteries. These are all elements of the gothic genre and it brings new aspects to the film, creating an art form.
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Vampires have been a part of human culture for thousands of years. There have been stories of vampire like creatures in Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and Europe. These stories have spanned the globe and time. The vampire has evolved overtime based on the current trends and beliefs and culture of the time. Today when the word vampire is said many visualize Dracula from the stories by Bram Stoker or handsome alluring creatures that are ready to drain you of your blood. For most vampires only live in stories, the truth is that vampires are very real. There is a subculture of realvampires emerging out of the darkness all over the world they are very real and among us.
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According to Teresa A. Goddu, " The number of the world's vampires live in the United States, according to Vampire Research Center: 550 in United States. Number who live in Romania: 3"(125).The original vampire was from Transylvania unlike todays novels that place vampires in small towns in the United States. The media has turned the terror of what was the vampire into a laughing stock. An example of this is from the series Twilight by Stephanie Meyers which romanticizes the vampire, and doesn't acknowledge that true and historical vampires are cold blooded killers. In todays modern times, the vampire has been remade to appeal to viewers and culture, but has strayed from the true vampire ideals of the works of Bram Strokers' novel Dracula. Bram Stoker is using Dracula as a metaphor to show us that Vampires are one of form evil in the world because evil can take many shapes. Vampires try to be nice on the outside while on the inside they are soulless and evil. It is hard to believe that we have people in our world that truly believe they are vampires but yet we have them. Theses so called "vampires" are not having a major effect on our way of life but every so often we hear of people found feasting on blood in abandon buildings or saying that they killed the victim for the blood...